The present invention relates to a device for supporting at least one object that is to be supported by a peg of a display unit.
Numerous shops and stores make use of display unit panels or slides which are fitted with suspension pegs (single pegs or dual pegs) onto which a plurality of supports for objects of a given category are engaged one after another.
Thus, it has long been the practice to use thermoformed shells associated with a card backing plate (blister packs) or indeed pieces of card supporting one or more objects secured thereto by means of a sheet of heat-shrink film whose edges overlie the edges of the card, or indeed various types of bags of plastics material fitted at the top either with a piece of card for suspension purposes, or else with a compartment that receives a piece of reinforcing card that has a hole from which the bag can be suspended.
More recently, use has been made of sleeves of heat-shrink plastics material that serve to hold one or more objects. Thus, support devices are in use that are constituted by two elements that are united to each other, specifically a suspension plate having a hole enabling the plate to be engaged on a display unit peg, which plate also serves as a medium for displaying information, and a heat-shrink sleeve, which, once shrunk, serves to unite one or more objects mechanically with the suspension plate. Under such circumstances, the bottom portion of the plate has a zigzag outline so as to favor engagement with the sleeve during shrinkage thereof, so as to enable said sleeve to withstand the forces encountered when one or more objects are suspended via the plate of the support device.
The drawback of the above-described solution lies in the need to use two components, and the need to organize bonding between those two components at the same time as bonding with one or more objects to be supported. In addition, there still remains the risk of the heat-shrink sleeve being poorly positioned relative to the plate, and such poor positioning can give rise to defective support of the object(s) which can then naturally fall out on the slightest handling by an interested client seeking to take an object off the peg of a display unit.
A particular object of the invention is to resolve that problem by designing a support device that provides higher performance and that does not have the above-specified drawbacks.
According to the invention, this problem is resolved by a device for supporting at least one object that is to be suspended from a peg of a display unit, the device consisting in a sleeve of heat-shrink plastics material having a non-shrunk top portion which is flattened face against face and has a through hole for suspending the device, and a bottom portion which is shrunk on a top portion of the object(s) concerned so as to enable said object(s) to be suspended.
Thus, unlike the known solution using plates and heat-shrink sleeves, the support device of the invention comprises a single piece, and therefore needs no operation of bonding components together.
In a first embodiment, the through holes passes through both walls of the top portion of the sleeve.
In a variant, in particular when the object(s) concerned is/are very heavy, it is advantageous to make provision for the top portion of the sleeve to have a fold defining an end flap that likewise has a through hole which, once said end flap has been folded down, comes into register with the above-mentioned through hole so as to double the number of walls in the suspension zone.
Preferably, the above-specified fold is defined by a circumferential line of microperforations or by scoring. It is also possible to make provision for the end flap to be fitted with an adhesive member ensuring that said flap is superposed. The adhesive member can be constituted, for example, by an adhesive extension of the end flap, or by an adhesive patch disposed on the inside face of said end flap.
According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, both walls of the sleeve adhere to each other via an intermediate transverse line marking the boundary between the top portion and the bottom portion of said sleeve. The intermediate transverse line is a line of heat sealing between the two walls of the sleeve, or in a variant a line of adhesive on the two walls of the sleeve provided by means of a temperature-reactivatable adhesive.
Also advantageously, the flap top portion of the sleeve presents printed information and/or decoration.
If necessary, provision can be made for the flat top portion of the sleeve to present a shaped top end. This provides great freedom in shaping the top suspension portion, which can thus be personalized at will as a function of the application concerned.
Also advantageously, the sleeve can carry a detection antenna in the form of a metal wire extending along a generator line of said sleeve, preferably along the full height thereof. This provides a secure package providing discrete and effective protection against xe2x80x9cshrinkagexe2x80x9d.
The invention also provides a method of wrapping at least one object that is to be suspended from a peg of a display unit by means of a heat-shrink sleeve having at least one of the above-specified characteristics, said method being remarkable in that it comprises the following successive steps:
a) the heat-shrink sleeve is engaged on an end portion of the object(s), over a portion only of the length of said sleeve; and
b) only that portion of the sleeve which covers the object(s) is caused to shrink, the remaining portion being left unshrunk and being flattened face against face.
Preferably, step a) consists in engaging the heat-shrink sleeve until the object(s) come(s) into abutment against an intermediate transverse line where the two walls of the sleeve adhere to each other.